Stephen F. Austin State University Deploys New Database System to Support 8 Times More Users

The university had been using a combination of solutions from multiple vendors, but the system was unreliable and lacked scalability. System updates were complex in the multi-vendor environment, and the university's systems and database administration teams often had to work overtime on nights and weekends to address performance issues.

To solve the problems, the university opted to upgrade to Oracle Exadata Database Machine with an Oracle Exadata quarter rack to support its enterprise resource planning (ERP) and student information systems (SIS) and another quarter rack to support its new disaster recovery data center.

The university can now support up to 2,000 concurrent users on its ERP and SIS systems, eight times more than its legacy system. The system also has fewer bottlenecks, less downtime, and response times between three and 10 seconds, so students can register for classes faster, according to Oracle.

The new system has also reduced staff overtime and simplified the update process because the IT team can now patch the operating system, switches, storage, and database at one time, according to a news release from Oracle.

The university worked with Oracle and PSI to install the Exadata Database Machine in five weeks. The implementation didn't require any application changes, and the university's database administrators were able to use their existing skills and expertise with the new system, according to Oracle.